The present invention relates to electrical termination devices and, more particularly, to telecommunications terminal blocks.
Terminal blocks are typically used by telecommunications companies to connect connector wires of a multi-core cable to service wires that extend to customer residences or places of business. Such terminal blocks are typically located outdoors and may, thus, be exposed to environmental conditions, such as rain, snow, sleet, ice, temperature fluctuations, dirt, insect infestation and similar conditions that may adversely affect the electrical connections between the service wires and the electrical connectors. Thus, some form of sealant material may be provided in such terminal blocks.
Terminal blocks connecting telecommunications wire pairs, typically referred to as “tip” and “ring” lines, may be located at a variety of points on the telecommunications wiring network, including cross-connect panels, hubs, pedestals, network interface devices (NIDs) and the like. It is generally desirable to use a re-enterable terminal as, in use, a terminal block may be used multiple times to make and break electrical connections as the service provided to particular customer locations may change over time. As such, the terminal blocks may be subjected to frequent use and/or abuse over time, which may degrade the quality of the resulting electrical connections, the environmental protection provided to the connections and/or breakage of the terminal blocks, which typically include plastic components. Furthermore, various known terminal blocks may be subjected to unintentional opening of the terminal block and breaking of the electrical connection as a result of wire installation work or the like being performed on adjacent terminal blocks in environments such as a cross-connect.